I'd like to pick your brains a little more. When do you get day old chicks in the spring? March? April? I'd like to get mine as early as possible this year. I want to get 6 Ameraucana's or 6 Araucanas. Either of these breeds should do well for my situation. I have a bunch of questions but I'll trickle them in over the next couple of months. :-D

I'd like to pick your brains a little more. When do you get day old chicks in the spring? March? April? I'd like to get mine as early as possible this year. I want to get 6 Ameraucana's or 6 Araucanas. Either of these breeds should do well for my situation. I have a bunch of questions but I'll trickle them in over the next couple of months. :-D

Thanks,
Eric

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hatcheries start getting a lot if orders during march but some ship all year round. Only 2 hatcheries i know of have true ameraucanas and i have eard so many bad reviews it is not even funny. You will be etting easter eggers from almost any hatchery. Order from a breeder if you want true ameraucanas or araucanas. The ameraucana thread should be in my signature. there is also a araucana thread but its not in my link

Kabhyper - it looks like the first chick has fluffy cheeks (can't tell if it's the lighting or not). If so, I say Easter-egger. They're adorable! Hoping little butt-sitting Chance bounces back! I would continue to give him Poly-Vi-Sol every few hours or so, just in case.

Kabhyper - it looks like the first chick has fluffy cheeks (can't tell if it's the lighting or not). If so, I say Easter-egger. They're adorable! Hoping little butt-sitting Chance bounces back! I would continue to give him Poly-Vi-Sol every few hours or so, just in case.

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You had a big day!!!!!!!!!!
I gave poly vi sol about 2 hours ago, and they are in for the night. Can I just give it first thing in the morning? I'm sure he is buried under momma in the dark. That chick does have fluffy cheeks. I know his dad is Gus my wyandotte, so maybe a silver laced EE? LOL that would be something.
Here is everybody but the silkies daddy. My EE is the one that I have posted pics of that looks almost wheaton.

Ok I know awhile ago I posted about Curly and Lola and deciding if I was going to put them down. Well I never could make a final decision because I would feel guilty about it and kept hoping they would get better, but now I see they aren't so I finally made the decision to put them down this weekend. I really don't want to, but I know its for the best, though I have no idea how to put them down. Does anybody know how to humanely put down a chicken without chopping its head off or snapping the neck?

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We use the vein cutting method and cut the large veins, one on each side of the neck. We have them in a cone and we process them. There is messy results with the method though it is very fast.

I'd like to pick your brains a little more. When do you get day old chicks in the spring? March? April? I'd like to get mine as early as possible this year. I want to get 6 Ameraucana's or 6 Araucanas. Either of these breeds should do well for my situation. I have a bunch of questions but I'll trickle them in over the next couple of months. :-D

Thanks,
Eric

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I agree try to get on a breeder's list.

But as for when well that depends on when you want to be able to put them out on their own with no additional heat. I got some this year at the end of March but April turned really cold and They were indoors longer than I liked.
Another thing to consider is when do you want eggs? If the breed is a late layer like my RIR breed well you really want them as early as possible and might just need to plan on heat and a good place for them to stay for 6-8weeks instead of 2-4. The bright side is that during the cold weather a chick is cheaper to feed than a full size hen. I'm not sure that a chick that is free ranging is going to save a whole lot of feed since they really don't eat a whole lot in the first 9 weeks. So feeding a chick you get in January is really only going to cost you a touch more in feed and a then the heat. The issue is finding a breeder that hatches in January / set eggs in December.

There is talk on the RIR thread about how it helps the 4H children to get their birds in January so maybe the other breeders are breeding then too. I have personal reasons this year for wanting to set eggs in the winter, but so far no eggs for me to set and the roos are not really mating the hens either.

You had a big day!!!!!!!!!!
I gave poly vi sol about 2 hours ago, and they are in for the night. Can I just give it first thing in the morning? I'm sure he is buried under momma in the dark. That chick does have fluffy cheeks. I know his dad is Gus my wyandotte, so maybe a silver laced EE? LOL that would be something.
Here is everybody but the silkies daddy. My EE is the one that I have posted pics of that looks almost wheaton.

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kabhyper~ Thanks for giving me a "Gux-fix." I love those tail feathers! It was also fun to see pretty mom Lavender and her babies.Poultry Podiatryhttps://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatryYou may have already consulted this site. Back when I was dealing with Violet's leg injury, I posted this site that I had come across. Someone else , maybe Darth, also posted it. If you scroll down, there is chick podiatry info. Btw, that seems weird to give vitamins several times a day since some aren't water soluble. Maybe it works differently for chickens.

DarthLayer~ So sorry to hear that you have to go through that. I knew about Lola since she started having problems after Violet's injury. Isn't she the Cornish? I'm sorry, but I can't remember the info about Curly. I know that it's a tough decision, but you have obviously tried to help them for a long time and you should feel good about all that you've done. I had Violet put to sleep at the vet. Since I don't process chickens, I couldn't imagine anything else. IMO, Whatever you decide, don't do it yourself! Find an experienced person. If you live in the Indy area, please PM vickichicki because I believe that she has access to a CO2 chamber,

Today, October 10th is Jchny/Janet's Big Birthday!Last night, I had been working late and after midnight I had posted on BYC that I messed up the dates and Janet's B-Day was yesterday. Since it was after midnight, the date changed to Thursday's date, but I was thinking it was still Wednesday. I was tired; that's why I was confused. It has nothing to do with me being old and senile. Anyway, send her a PM Happy B-day message. Here's a hint of her age: Oh, she is more than 5. (I'm sure she will announce it anyway because it is something to be proud of!)
Originally Posted by SallyinIndiana
I was disgusted by how ugly my ducklings were when they hatched. Now they are very pretty little khakis.Sally~ I guess that phenomenon is what coined the phrase, "Ugly Duckling." Ducks are so cute that it's hard to believe they could be ugly.Brad~ I think the bare neck is strange, but overall they are very cute! They look like they wear fur and leather. They look big for being just hatched!

Wanted to re-post it as I'm hoping it may be of use to you. If the pages won't come up large enough to read from THIS post, go back to the original posted place linked above. (click on the image in this post and they will come up larger) Oftentimes B vitamins - particularly B1 and B12 (Riboflavin and Thiamin) are at issue with new hatched chicks. Some very finely chopped liver is a great help if you have a good source to get some.

Here's the repost:

The first is this link that talks about some of the leg issues and causes. Note particularly the info on vitamins. There are various issues that "usually" affect birds during specific age ranges as a "rule of thumb". There exceptions to the rule of thumb however.

When I first heard about various "B" vitamins having an effect on leg issues w/chickens was a few years ago in one of Joel Salatin's books. Here is some info that is very interesting on riboflavin in young chicks in particular. I think if you click on the images they will come up large enough to read.

ETA: Someone had remarked earlier how they wondered how the birds could be fine one day and not able to walk the next. In another part of JS book, he mentioned that was what happened. One day they were in that condition. After feeding the liver, they recovered quite quickly as well.